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Prep football: A look San Bernardino County’s early nonleague matchups

The 2013 prep football season will soon be upon us, with Week 0 games taking place in four weeks.

Although we are still in the preliminary stages of previews, I thought I’d take a look at some interesting storylines for matchups between San Bernardino County teams from Week 0 and Week 1:

Aug. 30 Rancho Cucamonga at Redlands: Redlands always plays a challenging local nonleague schedule, and this matchup off this year’s schedule. Both teams went to at least the second round in the Inland Division playoffs last year.

Aug. 30 Barstow at Adelanto: A first varsity game is always a big deal, and the Saints get to host in their first varsity tilt.

Aug. 30 Citrus Valley at San Gorgonio: A year ago, Citrus Valley was a favorite to win the East Valley Division title, but was derailed by San Gorgonio in its first game, and never fully recovered. Citrus Valley will look for revenge, but San G. is good.

Aug. 30 Eisenhower vs. Alta Loma at Chaffey HS: A year ago, a 54-0 Eisenhower win in this game showed it was a new era for the Eagles. But with coach Vinny Fazio’s departure after 1 year for Murrieta Valley, there are questions again about Ike and new head coach Mike Clark.

Sept. 5 Summit vs. Redlands East Valley at Citrus Valley HS: REV plays the most challenging nonleague schedule around, and this game is the only nonleague game for the Wildcats against a San Bernardino County team. It just happens to be against a Summit team that was 9-1 before losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Sept. 6 Carter at Redlands: A year ago, Carter went 12-1, but had only one nonleague opponent, Eisenhower, that finished with a winning record. This time, they add another former Citrus Belt League rival, Redlands.

Sept. 6 Indian Springs at Grand Terrace: A year ago, Grand Terrace was the host in its first-ever varsity game, a loss to Riverside Notre Dame in front of a large and vocal crowd. This time, the Titans get to host an Indian Springs team playing its first varsity game. The two coaches, Indian Springs’ Dave DeWoody and Grand Terrace’s Harold Strauss go back to their 8-man football days, when DeWoody was at Riverside Christian and Strauss was at Bloomington Christian.

Sept. 6 Apple Valley at Kaiser: Kaiser surprised some by winning a CIF title and this is its first game in its title defense. Apple Valley felt it got a raw deal in a playoff bid last year.